The Leviathan Trilogy: Leviathan, Behemoth, Goliath

In Scott Westerfeld's best work, the Leviathan Trilogy featuring Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath,we meet some great characters and go on an exciting adventure through alterna-history's WWI with both an Allied and an Axis perspective. The trilogy has elements of both steampunk and fantasy as well as threading in truths and actual people from history (Westerfeld includes an afterward correcting some of his alterna-history).  It was a lively exciting read that I highly recommend to any reader. I give it five stars. Westerfeld, you hit your mark with these works. Read on, my friends.

The Last Days

More of a companion novel than a sequel to Peeps, The Last Days tells the story of new characters: Moz, Zahler, Pearl, Alana Ray, and Minerva, as they form a band in apocalyptic New York. The vampires from Peeps continue to occur, under the guise of them going mad, the sewers are gushing black water, and the earth is shaking. Randomly, it reminds me of the Duck Tales episode when they're in the Bermuda Triangle. Overall, I had similar feelings for The Last Days as I did towards Peeps, but with the additional sex and language in this it's much more of an older YA novel than, say, a middle school YA novel. So, don't expect too much, but no need to hate. 

Peace out!

Peeps

As I started my journey into the world of Peeps, I thought I was seeing how Westerfeld has matured as an author, how Peeps can easily lead into Uglies, but then I saw that all of his novels are published in (or near) 2005. Crazy. He must have had them all stocked up before he got a publisher. But back to the story: Peeps is an apocalyptic novel centered on parasites which cause people to become Westerfeld's version of vampires. Our hero is Cal, who is trying to save the world. 


Being a lesser book of Westerfelds, it was a neat read, though, because Westerfeld likens vampirism unto parasitical infestation in a very plausible and understandable manner. One caveat: this novel is geared towards middle and jr high schoolers, but there's lots of "horny talk." So read it before you hand it to your child and decide for yourself if it's appropriate for your kiddo. It's written for them & a decent read. 


Now enjoy this quote from Westerfeld on Peeps: 

"Maybe there are too many vampire novels, I thought. But that was part of the challenge, to see if I could do something that felt new and interesting, while still being full of bitey goodness. (Unsurprising confession: I am a Buffy fan.) So the book had to be original, but also icky, scary, funny, tragic, and (ahem) not sucky.

Besides getting a new take on the sunlight-impaired, my other big concern was that my vampires should actually make some sense as far as science goes. So I started doing some vampire research, reading a bunch of books about rats, parasites, bites and stings, and biology.

After consuming all there was to know on these subjects, I came up with the four important features that any vampire novel (of mine) had to include:

natural selection,
sexual attraction,
parasitic infection,
and Elvis memorabilia."

Read on, my friends! 

So Yesterday

So there's this really hip dude, Hunter, and he's a cool hunter. He finds and 

sells new trends to his corporate sponsor. He goes to 'cool tastings', or product testings. 

He finds what's cool, before it's cool, and then the sponsors make it cool. Until Hunter

meets Jen, a real-life Innovator. And together they go on a crazy adventure which

begs the question: Is cool real or not real? Is it real because we make it real?

Because we think it's real? Or is cool really cool on its own? 

The whole time I was reading So Yesterday, it felt like I had read it before. But it felt super current, so that couldn't possibly be true. So I checked the publication date. 2004. Wow. Guess not too much has changed. And it's possible I've read it. I don't think I have, but whatever. I digress. Back to the book. It was okay. A little predictable. No engaging characters. And let's be real: kind of a lame plot. But, you know, if you're bored and there's nothing else around, give it a go. You won't hate it. 

Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras

I have something terrible to admit.

I judge books by their covers.

I apologize.

So when these books came out and everyone was just reading them up, I was like, "Whatever. I don't want to read some stupid clique book." Even when they were recommend to me.

I finally learned otherwise. These books are exactly up my alley. Or, at least, they started that way. I really enjoyed Uglies, and even Pretties. Specials and Extras, though, I found to be overkill. And I thought Extras was pretty lame. Plus, I'm not all that into series/sequel books where it's the same society but not the same characters. [I appreciate Lois Lowry calling Gathering Blue and The Messenger companion books.] 

Here's what happens: They live in a society where you get surgery at 16 to become pretty. But it turns out, there are people outside of the city, people who don't get the surgery. And sometimes, people from the city actually leave, they choose to not have the surgery. Tally Youngblood's friend, Shay, is one of them. And if Tally doesn't find Shay and bring her back, she'll never become pretty. Anything she chooses from this point out will drastically change her life, maybe even her world. 

So, yeah. I liked it a lot. I love this futuristic, post-apocalyptic (insofar as the Rusties, aka us, had our apocalypse and their society grew out of it), utopia/dystopia theme. I'm not sure I would recommend Extras, at least without qualifying it as my least favorite. 

But I had a few questions about their society, mostly brought about by Specials, which felt a little bit like plot holes to me, but maybe I'm the only one. 

• It surprises me that they still have their own birthdays. . . Okay, that wasn't a question. It just seems odd to me, in a society where the stress is on sameness without actually ever saying so. So why  do they let them have their own? Also, I guess this one isn't really a plot hole. But it's still my question! 
• Do they, the government, still let people give birth? Doesn't that seem contrary to being pretty? Do they have to have another surgery after giving birth? After every birth?
• Do littlies live with their parents? And why/how does the government trust middle pretties/crumblies to raise their children to twelve? 
• What are crumblies? But wikipedia answered this for me: crumblies are generally parents, any middle or late pretties can be referred to as crumblies.
• What's up with the Tally-wa and Shay-la thing? I get that they're nicknames, but I just kept wondering if they had significance, and it seems like they gave the -la to everyone, so what's the point if everyone has one? And why is on Tally a -wa? 
• I guess the only really plot-holey one is society as a whole, how it runs. Is their still a family unit? Why does the government even allow there to be all the people they need to take care of? Like, what is the point? And if the government is in control . . .    I just don't get it. And where does the money come from? How does everything run and maintain? I just feel like I wasn't given enough information about how the society works as a whole, outside of what it's like to be a teenager ugly or new pretty. Wikipedia explains this, sort of, but it's not the same as if it's in the book. It's not as prove-able.
• I also wanted to know the deal with David and Tally, in the end, you know?  

So, read the books. Answer my questions. And keep reading!